


The Old and The New

by Ink_Gypsy



Series: Lucky Clover Diner Universe [22]
Category: Lord of the Rings RPF (AU)
Genre: M/M, Sean Astin/Elijah Wood - Freeform, fffc challenge fics, holiday fics, lucky clover diner universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 23:06:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13223142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ink_Gypsy/pseuds/Ink_Gypsy
Summary: Sean wants to share with Elijah the kind of Christmas he had as a child.





	The Old and The New

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2017 Frodo Flash Fiction Challenge Advent Calendar at Live Journal and Dreamwidth. Part of my Lucky Clover Diner Universe. Manips by me.

[](https://imgur.com/IBCtwym)

Sean thought he had lost his Christmas spirit, but having Elijah in his life had made him remember what he loved most about the holiday: family traditions. Even once he’d become an adult, he still enjoyed spending Christmas Eve with his parents, having a traditional dinner, then decorating the tree and exchanging gifts. As much as Sean enjoyed those times, what had been missing on those holidays was someone special in his life to celebrate with him and his family. Now he had that special person in his life. Now Elijah was part of that family.

On their second Christmas Eve together, as he and Elijah prepared to decorate their tree, Sean was flooded with memories of the Christmases he'd shared with his family, encouraging him to bring out a box he'd kept in the back of his bedroom closet for years. Immediately interested, Elijah lifted the lid, and examining the ornaments inside, he said, “I don't remember seeing any of these last year.”

Sean explained, “I didn’t bring them out last year. After my parents moved out west, I didn’t even put up a tree because it didn’t feel like Christmas without them here. I just packed all the decorations away and never expected to take them out again.”

“So you bought new decorations last year?” Elijah asked. “Why didn’t you want to use these?”

“I thought about it, but our relationship was new, and I wanted everything for our first Christmas together to be new, too, but after we put up the tree, I missed seeing those ornaments from my childhood.” He smiled wistfully. “Many of them are older than I am.”

“Like this one?” Elijah asked, choosing one from the box and holding it up. 

[](https://imgur.com/TEK1IpK)

Sean smiled. “My Mom loved personalized ornaments. I think she got that one when they were first married, but you’ll find one with each of our first names on it, probably more than one. They were always the first things we put on the tree, right after the lights and the tinsel.”

“No tinsel this year,” Elijah reminded him. “I read that if a cat eats tinsel or garland, it can get caught in their intestines.” As if she knew she was being talked about, Cocoa came into the living room and headed for the naked tree. She lay down on the red drop cloth surrounding the stand, and began washing herself.

While they drank hot chocolate and carols played on the stereo, Sean and Elijah decorated their tree. They strung the lights and hung the personalized Christmas balls, one for Sean, one for Anna, and one for John, as well as the one for his parents. Then they continued to decorate, using both Sean’s older ornaments and the new ones they’d gotten last year. Once they began putting ornaments on the tree, Cocoa needed to check out each one, knocking it off the tree and batting it around. It took longer than it should have to decorate since they had to replace every ornament that Cocoa had knocked off the tree, but finally they were done.

“It looks great,” Elijah announced.

Sean studied their handiwork before declaring, “Not yet. There’s something missing.”

“Did we miss an ornament Cocoa knocked off?” Elijah asked, looking around on the floor under the tree. “What’s missing?”

Sean went to his desk and came back with a small gift bag. “This,” he said, handing it to Elijah.

“What is it?” Elijah asked.

“A new addition for the tree,” Sean replied. “Go on. Open it.”

When Elijah opened the bag, his face lit up, making him look much younger than his twenty years. “You had this made for me?” he asked, lifting the personalized ornament out by its hook. 

“I wish I’d thought of it last year, but when I decided to take these decorations out of the closet, I wanted you to be able to see your name on the tree with the rest of my family. I hoped you’d like that.”

“I do, Sean, so much.”

“Then you like the ornament?”

Elijah placed the red globe next to his heart. “I love it!”

“Then go hang it on the tree."

Elijah jumped up from the sofa. "Where should I put it?" he asked excitedly.

"Wherever you like.” Sean was pleased when Elijah placed his ornament right next to the one with Sean’s name, exactly the spot he would have chosen.

“How’s it look?” Elijah asked anxiously.

“Perfect.”

They sat together on the sofa, admiring the tree. Cocoa had finally lost interest in the ornaments and settled under the tree again, her nose in the air as she sniffed the pine scent. “This is like Christmas in a movie,” Elijah said. “The only thing missing is the Christmas stockings hanging by the fireplace.”

“Funny you should mention stockings…” Sean said, looking sheepish.

Elijah’s eyes widened. “Are you telling me you bought me my own stocking?” In answer, Sean got up and went to his desk again, returning with another gift bag. Elijah didn’t wait to be asked this time, and opened the bag with glee, pulling out a personalized stocking.

[](https://imgur.com/46PmV9p)

“This is amazing, Sean.,” Elijah said, “but I don’t understand why you didn’t give it to me with my ornament. Did you change your mind and not want me to have it?”

“In a way,” Sean admitted. “I was excited to give it to you when I bought it, but then I decided maybe it wasn’t a good idea."

"Why?"

Sean shrugged. "I thought you might think it was too childish.”

“Well I don’t,” Elijah assured him. “I think it's awesome. I’ll bet you have one like it, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“Can I see it?”

Sean went into their bedroom and returned with another box from the closet. Opening it, he pulled out his Christmas stocking and held it up for Elijah’s inspection. 

[](https://imgur.com/0kU0EdR)

Elijah took it from him, and holding the two stockings next to each other, he said longingly, “I wish we had a fireplace so we could hang these up.”

Obviously pleased that Elijah hadn’t thought the personalized stocking was childish, Sean suggested, “It doesn’t have to be by the fireplace, you know. We could hang them on the tree.”

“Cool.,” Elijah said, obviously liking the idea. He took both stockings to the tree, and after contemplating the perfect spot, he hung them near the top, right next to each other. Admiring his work, he decided, “Next year we’ll have to get one for Cocoa.”

“As a matter of fact,” Sean began in that same mischievous tone.

“You didn’t!” Elijah squealed with delight.

But of course, Sean had. 

[](https://imgur.com/E9fjp6s)

When Elijah went to hang it on the tree, Sean told him, “You’d better not hang it up, or she’ll bring the whole tree down trying to get at it.”

“How come?”

Sean grinned. “Catnip.”

Elijah placed the stocking under the tree and Cocoa immediately attacked it, alternating between rolling around on top of it and trying to get inside it, totally oblivious to everything else. “She’s getting stoned,” Elijah said with a giggle, then leaving Cocoa, he went back to the sofa and into Sean’s waiting arms.

With Elijah snuggled against him, Sean studied the tree again, pleased by what he thought was a charming mixture of the old and the new. He was sure his parents would approve.

[ ](https://imgur.com/scL7lZL)


End file.
